A plan to experiment with sin-bins for yellow card offences will be discussed this month
by soccer's law-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB).

The proposal from the Irish Football Association will be
considered by the IFAB at its annual meeting near Belfast on
Feb. 28.

The board comprises the four British associations and four
representatives from world soccer's governing body FIFA, with a
three-quarters majority needed to change any law.

Raymond Kennedy, president of the Irish FA, told Reuters:
"We are still looking into the details of how it would work but
the basic idea is if someone gets a card from the referee they
would be sent to a sin-bin for say five or 10 minutes as in
rugby.

"If their team got another during that period they would be
down to nine men and it would certainly help improve discipline
on the field. It would also cut down on a lot of paperwork and
disciplinary meetings later.

"The offence would be dealt with on the day and the team
offended against would be the team to benefit. I hope the board
agrees to this, we see a lot of merit in it and I am hoping they
sanction an experiment at youth level for a season or so," said
Kennedy.

Another proposal being considered, from the Scottish FA, is
to increase the amount of substitutes that can be used from
three to four when a match goes to extra-time.

The IFAB will also consider a plan to extend halftime from
15 to 20 minutes and a clarification of the wording of the
offside law.

The new wording relates to the type of incident that arose
at a Euro 2008 match in Berne in June when Dutch striker Ruud
van Nistelrooy opened the scoring in a 3-0 win but appeared to
be offside because Italy defender Christian Panucci was off the
pitch.

The goal was correctly awarded by referee Peter Frojdfeldt.
Initially his decision was widely criticised, although he
interpreted the law to the letter.

The new wording seeks to erase any doubt that even if the
defender leaves the field, he is still "active" as far as
offside is concerned.

It would read: "Any defending player leaving the field of
play for any reason without the referee's permission shall,
until he returns to the field ... be considered to be on his own
goalline or touchline for the purposes of offside."

FIFA's proposals include one that halftime should be
extended from 15 to 20 minutes, saying that in certain stadiums
the location of the dressing room is so far from the pitch that
players spend most of the break walking there and back.

The board will also consider recent experiments in under-19
European qualifying matches using two additional assistant
referees placed behind each goalline.